6 MAINi; AGRICUI^TURAI. EXPERIMENT STATION. I9IO, 



the preceding paragraph. There is one other place where 

 fusion takes place between the ligament and the dorsal wall of 

 the air sac. This is a narrow strip along the dorsal margin of 

 the ligament beginning where this structure passes between the 

 sac and the body wall and extending caudad to the end of the 

 sac. This fusion is often present in chicks just hatched and 

 was found in all the specimens examined at sexual maturity. 

 Fusion of the dorsal ligament and the mesentery is slight in 

 extent and occurs only at the caudal end of the ligament be- 

 tween its medial surface and the lateral surface of the mesen- 

 tery of the rectum. 



The relations of the ventral ligament are always simple. Its 

 dorsal margin is its line of attachment to the ventral margin 

 of the oviduct. This margin extends as far craniad as does 

 the tubular portion of the duct. Its cranial margin is its line 

 of attachment to the posterior elongation of the funnel. At 

 hatching the ligament is very narrow and nearly uniform in 

 width throughout the greater portion of its course. It appears 

 as a narrow band rounded slightly at the beginning of the fun- 

 nel and limited ventrally at its cranial end by the posterior 

 elongation of the funnel. Caudad to the end of the funnel the 

 ventral margin of the ligament is free and slightly thickened. 

 The two sheets of peritoneum forming the ligament are con- 

 tinuous at its free ventral margin. The ligament becomes nar- 

 rower caudad and ends as a cord along the ventral margin of 

 the uterus. 



The Oviduct and its Ligaments in the Adult. 



The ligaments of the oviduct always maintain the general 

 relations described above. During the first four or five months 

 after hatching the growth of the oviduct and its ligaments is 

 about proportional to the growth of the rest of the body. With 

 the approach of functional activity (egg laying) the isthmus, 

 albumen secreting portion and funnel of the oviduct elongate 

 considerably. This elongation includes the enclosing perito- 

 enum. At their attachments to the duct the ligaments, of 

 course, become elongated concurrently with the growth of the 

 duct. At their opposite margins the ligaments do not elongate 

 relatively but instead maintain the relations existing at the time 



